70. Which two of the following were treated as NOT social indicators of poverty in the question: illiteracy, access to safe water, job opportunities and size of dwelling?
[UPPSC PCS Prelims 2025, GS-I]
- A. Illiteracy and water
- B. Job opportunities and dwelling size
- C. Water and dwelling size
- D. Illiteracy and job opportunities
Answer: B. Job opportunities and dwelling size
Explanation: Literacy and safe drinking water describe social deprivation directly. Employment opportunities are more commonly grouped with labour-market conditions, while dwelling size is an asset or housing measure. Indicators can overlap conceptually, but the original classification uses the latter pair.
69. Assertion: India’s SDG performance materially affects global SDG outcomes.
Reason: India contains roughly one-sixth of the world population.
Which is correct?
[UPPSC PCS Prelims 2025, GS-I]
- A. Both are true, and the reason explains the assertion
- B. Both are true, but unrelated
- C. Only the assertion is true
- D. Only the reason is true
Answer: A. Both are true, and the reason explains the assertion
Explanation: India represents a substantial portion of humanity. Changes in education, health, sanitation, livelihoods and consumption affecting such a large population can move global aggregate indicators appreciably. Its demographic weight therefore helps explain its importance to worldwide SDG achievement.
68. Assertion: Sustainable development protects the ability of future generations to meet needs.
Reason: Agenda 21 was adopted in 1995.
Select the correct combination.
[UPPSC PCS Prelims 2025, GS-I]
- A. Both true and related
- B. Assertion true, reason false
- C. Assertion false, reason true
- D. Both false
Answer: B. Assertion true, reason false
Explanation: Intergenerational responsibility is central to the widely used Brundtland understanding of sustainability. However, Agenda 21 was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, not 1995. The incorrect date makes the reason false despite the valid assertion.
67. Which objectives were especially prominent in India’s Sixth Five-Year Plan?
[SSC CGL, 26 Sep 2025, Shift 3]
- A. Heavy-industry expansion alone
- B. Exclusive emphasis on liberalisation
- C. Poverty reduction and technological modernization
- D. Only foreign-trade expansion
Answer: C. Poverty reduction and technological modernization
Explanation: The Sixth Plan, covering 1980–85, emphasized poverty removal together with improved productivity and modernization. Rural employment and self-employment interventions, including the IRDP, were important instruments. This differed from the earlier heavy-industry emphasis of the Second Plan.
66. What HDI value did the UNDP Human Development Report 2025 assign to India?
[RRB NTPC (UG), 12 Aug 2025, Shift 1]
- A. 0.690
- B. 0.676
- C. 0.685
- D. 0.700
Answer: C. 0.685
Explanation: The 2025 Human Development Report reported an HDI value of 0.685 for India, using 2023 observations. That score falls in the medium human-development category and combines health, education and purchasing-power-adjusted income, not only economic output.
65. Who is especially associated with developing the HDI alongside Amartya Sen?
[RRB NTPC (UG), 22 Aug 2025, Shift 1]
- A. Manmohan Singh
- B. Jean Drèze
- C. Kaushik Basu
- D. Mahbub ul Haq
Answer: D. Mahbub ul Haq
Explanation: Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq led the effort to create a people-centred development index with intellectual contributions from Amartya Sen and others. UNDP introduced it in the inaugural Human Development Report in 1990, expanding evaluation beyond national income.
64. Which indicator gives the share of people living below an identified poverty threshold?
[RRB NTPC (Graduate), 09 Jun 2025, Shift 2]
- A. Gini coefficient
- B. Unemployment rate
- C. Poverty headcount ratio
- D. Human Development Index
Answer: C. Poverty headcount ratio
Explanation: The headcount ratio divides the number of people whose consumption or income falls below a specified poverty line by the total population. The Gini coefficient measures distributional inequality instead; neither unemployment nor HDI directly gives this poverty percentage.
63. According to NITI Aayog estimates, how did India’s multidimensional-poverty headcount change from 2013–14 to 2022–23?
[RRB NTPC (Graduate), 12 Jun 2025, Shift 2]
- A. 29.17% to 11.28%
- B. 28% to 15%
- C. 30% to 12.5%
- D. 25% to 10%
Answer: A. 29.17% to 11.28%
Explanation: NITI Aayog estimated the multidimensional headcount at 29.17% for 2013–14 and 11.28% for 2022–23. These figures are estimates based on a multidimensional framework and should not be confused with monetary poverty estimates from household consumption surveys.
62. What proportion of Indians experienced multidimensional poverty in 2019–21 according to the National MPI 2023?
[RRB NTPC (Graduate), 10 Jun 2025, Shift 2]
- A. 14.96%
- B. 24.58%
- C. 22.67%
- D. 16.23%
Answer: A. 14.96%
Explanation: The National Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023 placed the 2019–21 headcount at 14.96%. Its indicators cover several kinds of deprivation across health, education and living standards. This percentage differs in scope from an income-based poverty headcount.
61. In World Bank data using the $2.15-a-day poverty line at 2017 PPP, what was India’s reported 2021 rate in the examined question?
[RRB NTPC (Graduate), 20 Jun 2025, Shift 1]
- A. 12.92%
- B. 15.00%
- C. 8.90%
- D. 10.50%
Answer: A. 12.92%
Explanation: The cited World Bank series reported 12.92% for the specified year and threshold. A poverty figure is inseparable from its reference year, purchasing-power parity base and cutoff; later methodological revisions can produce different values for the same broad concept.
